VIETNAM

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VIETNAM

THE jump from Macau to Vietnam was a short one: 1,5 hour plane-ride with the only service, a can of coke or other soft drink for a handful of Dollars, or a cup of Nescafe coffee for another handful of Dollars in a styrofoam cup.
Arriving in Ho Chi Minh city, previously Saigon is a pleasant revelation: a large modern terminal with a number of ATM’s and a welcome with an excellent map of the city, the country and other places.
We are a distance from the city center, I don’t see busses, but a guy with a car, obviously there to catch the tourist, is there to take me into town, to a coffee shop and a cheap hotel,
By then, the ATM has taught me that the national currency is the Dong, 2250 Dong to the Rand or 17000 Dong to the Dollar. You get to think that the name should be Ting, because the sound a Dong makes when falling is far from solid.
20,000 Dong gets me to a hotel after a considerable time in dense traffic, and a few minutes later I have my first cup of coffee in the coffee shop opposite the hotel. A delicious cup of coffee and I must ad, in the three weeks I spent in Vietnam, I drank quite a few cups and never was offered anything but the real thing, never a substitute.
The hotel room, a spacious room with two beds, bathroom en suite, hot water kettle, TV and aircon, cost me about $US 10 per day, Cheap compared to China and Macau.
It was still early (we landed at about 8:30 am) so my first impressions of Saigon are that of hectic traffic, mainly motorbikes and scoters, helmeted riders and endless streams of them, never relenting and crossing the street is an adventure. The amazing thing is, you never get hurt. Just take the first step and the flow starts to split in streams in front and behind you, just keep moving and the flow of traffic adjusts until you are on the other side of the street. Amazing!
I found the Vietnamese a gentle, friendly and helpful people. Of all the counties I have visited, Vietnam is probably the most attractive place, not just as far as the people is concerned, but also because of the availability of internet and WiFi, bus services, landscape and seaside developments, price of living and so on. It is a poor country though, and expensive items like top-of-the-line camera’s etc, when found, are not cheap. There are plenty hotels, places to visit and eateries, the markets burst from all the merchandise that’s on offer, cheap clothing and shoes. And there are beggars, many with deformed bodies or with fingers, hands missing, maybe from Russian “toy“-mines. The second day I was there, I got a SIM-card for my phone, making it possible to talk to David and the rest of the world, for next to nothing.
Saigon is situated on the North side of the Mekong-delta, a vast area interspersed with hundreds of off-shoots from the main river. The name alone, “Mekong river” has, for a long time, brought up idyllic thoughts in my mind and, although my first reason for being in Vietnam was to get to Laos and our car, I did not want to miss this opportunity to see more of that legendary river now I was so close. A few days later I hopped on a bus to Can Tho, on one of the main streams and a place noted for the floating markets near by. As soon as I had booked in to a hotel, a lady approached me to arrange a visit to those markets, and we set that for 5 am the next day. I was going to get an English speaking guide, but that proved to be on the optimistic side. She could point out a few things, but never had an answer for questions I asked.
The next morning I was the only passenger in a small boat with (silent) outboard motor and after a while on the water we got to the first and biggest of those floating markets. Although interesting, I had expected something more impressive. Nevertheless, there were plenty of pictures to be made, some of them real good in my opinion, and all in all it was a most pleasant and rewarding day on the water. The boats with produce, heavily laden with water gushing over the side up to the gang boards, come from the farms along the river and sell their ware to merchants who in turn sell the produce they bought to small shops and traders, from where it is sold to the end-users. A hole system of acquisition and distribution fans out from these markets and filters into the big towns as well.
The weather was good, the sun was shining and since I had seen what I came for, I hopped on a bus for my trip back to Saigon. As on our way here we were ferried by one of maybe 8 or 10 big car-ferries over one of the big streams that soon will have a bridge, being built at the moment, that makes all those ferries superfluous.
Having noted earlier in Saigon that the bus-station was far away from the hotel I had stayed in, I selected a hotel very close to the bus-station and bought a ticket for the bus, next day 6 am to Mui Ne, a thoroughly touristy place on the coast. Once again, by now almost to be expected, the hostel as recommended by the Lonely Planet was a disappointment. But, seeing I only wanted to stay 2 or 3 nights, I took what they had to offer. Moreover because, like almost everywhere, there was WiFi and I could work on my blog.
All along the coast of Vietnam pearly white beaches stretch endlessly from little village to village, with fishing harbors and tourist attractions and I followed this scene from the road until we reached Vinh. There I had a rather unpleasant situation on my hands, or rather on a foot. I’d been sitting in the bus for hours and hours with wet socks on my feet and somehow, somewhere I must have picked up an infection. The leg was swollen and extremely painful. I couldn’t stand on it, let alone walk. It was late at night, no hotel in sight except one that was far too expensive and a few motorbikes offering a ride to a cheap hotel.
The hotel I found a room in for 200,000 Dong (about $12 US) had nothing in terms of food or services and only a giggle when it came to questions in English. In three days the pain in my leg didn’t go away and now I was in need to see a doctor. But it was impossible to tell the girl at the reception desk what I wanted. Eventually, drawing a red cross brought a reaction and, once again as coincidence wanted it, there was a clinic right next door. That proved to be less helpful then it sounded, because the doctor there did not know what had effected my leg and only reluctantly prescribed some medicine.
Three days later the pain had subsided sufficiently though to go out and find something to eat, after all that time having had nothing but a few biscuits I carry with me for emergencies.
I could travel again and hoping to find medical help in Hanoi I took a bus there. The hotel in the old quarter was friendly and helpful and I was directed to an SOS hospital nearby, where the consultation fee was $ 130 US, so out of the question. A pharmacist who had been pointed out to me as an alternative prescribed some tablets, but really helpful they weren’t either. Yet, I could travel and so I embarked on the trip to the Laotian border and further, to the Land Rover. This trip proved to be hazardous and, to make a long story short, started with a long trip on the back of a motorbike to the bus-station, a long bus ride to Dien Bien (where the French were licked by the VC before the Americans “took over”) and from there by motorbike first to the Vietnamese border and then to the Laotian border in the poring rain, with an umbrella over the driver and me part of the way, and then once again on the back of a motorbike over a muddy mountain track to a “guesthouse” where I stayed the night. There would be a bus (truck) going further into Laos the next morning, IF it did not rain before then, to a place where a motor-canoe took us to the other side of a river. A tuk-tuk took us further to a place where a real bus waited to take us to our destination.
This trip didn’t do much for my leg, but I found the Land Rover in good order. Mission accomplished, so far!
I admit I would have liked to see a lot more of Vietnam, but at first getting more and more curious about the state of the car, after 4 months and later the problem with my leg and the idea that the hospital in Kunming would be able to make the right diagnosis, spurred me on. I only stayed one night with the car while copying some pictures from the PC I had left there and at 8 am the next morning I was on the bus to Kunming. That’s it for now.

As far as the leg is concerned: I got to Kunming and the hospital there. It now was well over a month since I attracted the infection. I’ve visited the hospital, saw doctors and even professor Yang, who put me on a drip and prescribed anti-biotics and although there is no pain, and the swelling seems to be much less in the morning, it’s back at night. I have a feeling this infection, or what’s left of it, will be with me for a long time to come!
Till next time.

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Photos

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That first delicious cup of coffee in Saigon, Vietnam

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One of many car- ferries operating until bridge is finished

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Mekong immage

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merchant on the floating market

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floating . . .but only just!

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common sight in Vietnam

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fishing harbor, view from the bus

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plenty of merchandise on the market floor!